Why Matt Fraser Is the Boston Bruins' Front-Runner for 3rd-Line RW in 2014-15

Three key S’s—shot, size and seasoning—are teaming up to grant Matt Fraser a radiant opportunity for full-time employment with the Boston Bruins.

With a one-year contract renewal last week, the rising fourth-year pro has every requisite element to fill a gaping opening. Barring an unforeseen surprise at training camp or later, he should patrol the right wing on Boston’s third line for his first full NHL season.

Granted, part of Fraser’s favorable circumstance is a modicum of immediate quality competition on the right side. Beyond the top two lines (and this assumes second-liner Reilly Smith re-signs), that position is up in the air going into 2014-15.

Among other candidates to plug the position in question, Jordan Caron is too late and David Pastrnak is too early. Others are simply less proven at one or both of the top two levels on this continent.

But Fraser has patiently paid his dues as an AHL regular and in any given call-up.

Between the Texas Stars and Providence Bruins, he posted 90 goals and 131 points in 179 minor league appearances. He garnered 13 games in Dallas and then assimilated with little difficulty over a combined 18 regular-season and playoff outings with Boston last season.

While his output (three goals, one assist) did not quite translate right away, multiple pundits agree that his breakthrough is waiting. Take CBS Boston columnist Matt Kalman’s observation, for example:

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After the Bruins acquired Fraser as part of the package from the Dallas Stars in the Tyler Seguin trade, all we heard about was his great shot. However we didn’t see much of it until the postseason. Part of that was Fraser, now 24, getting used to his new environs and linemates… Things should be different this season, starting at training camp in a couple weeks.

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Meanwhile, Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.com went so far as to opine that “Fraser has an opportunity to seize an NHL job and show off the elite level shot and release that’s the best on the Bruins roster.”

The power in that shot doubtlessly owes a fraction of credit to Fraser’s size and strength. The 204 pounds that complement his 6’1” frame tie him with Caron as the third-heaviest Boston forward who has seen NHL action. Only Carl Soderberg (216) and Milan Lucic (235) brandish more bulk among that group.

Throw in his propensity for physicality and flexibility, and he begins to set himself apart from the likes of Caron. The direction of their respective careers serves to amplify that gap.

Caron, a first-round draftee from 2009, has struggled to stick in The Show since making the team out of camp as a rookie in 2010.

Although he has accumulated more NHL experience with 123 regular-season games, the first 20 of those preceded his first AHL stint. A December demotion in 2010 would be the first of many back-and-forth sequences through his first three seasons.

Last season, Caron finally attained full-time membership with the big club but settled for a spare role. All he had to show for his 35 regular-season appearances in 2013-14 were three points and a forlorn minus-eight rating.

Caron has done little to stop appearing stagnant in his development. His best-case scenario looks to be either fourth-line duty or remaining the spare 13th forward.

Similarly, there will be a couple of veteran tryouts at training camp. As the Boston Globe’s Amalie Benjamin wrote Aug. 16, “General manager Peter Chiarelli confirmed…that the team is bringing in 34-year-old Simon Gagne for a tryout.” Meanwhile, the club’s website noted this past weekend that Ville Leino is likewise coming on the same basis. 

For all of their experience, however, they are natural left wingers whereas Fraser is a proficient off-winger on the right flank.

Furthermore, Gagne last played on April 27, 2013, while Leino has hardly dazzled in his career outside of a 53-point romp with Philadelphia in 2009-10.

Conversely, Fraser is on the rise after making a career-high 14 regular-season NHL appearances and a decent impression in a mid-series call-up against Montreal during the 2014 playoffs. His performance over four postseason games clouded the fact that he was playing through a foot injury at the time.

Fast-forward four months, and he will enter his second training camp as a Bruin with better physical health and mental know-how. He has had an authentic feel of how to apply his size and skill set to Boston’s system in the most intensive situations.

For those reasons, among others, he is further along than Pastrnak. This despite the undeniable flair that Boston’s latest first-round draftee has flaunted of late with another rare right-handed twig.

The Bruins roster lists Pastrnak at a mere 167 pounds, easily making him the lightest candidate for a roster spot. Odds are he will be better served by one more winter in Europe as he adds more strength and keeps maneuvering around older competitors to ease his long-term transition.

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The other budding right wings in the system, particularly Providence mainstays Seth Griffith and Jared Knight, have similar temporary precautions. Neither of those two has played a single regular-season or postseason NHL game.

Beyond Caron and Fraser, only Craig Cunningham has authentic extramural experience, of which he has two games’ worth.

With little, if anything more to prove in North America’s second-best circuit, Fraser is seeking to jump-start his 2014-15 campaign. His presence at last week’s informal practices says a lot on its own, but per Jess Isner of the Bruins' official website, he spoke to his drive in the literal sense as well:

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It’s nice to get it done and know that you have a job. It gives you just a little more incentive to work harder and everything like that. ... Just to be back early, it gives you a little bit of familiarity around here, and just to reacquaint yourself with how everything runs…The more time you spend here, you’re more familiar with everything. You’re more comfortable getting in that comfort zone to get that shot away.

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There it is again. The shot that multiple reporters allude to is on Fraser’s mind as he strives to cement his worth.

Fraser’s shot is his most radiant asset, but it can only come through if he makes the most of his other qualities. To do that, he must ward off complacency, which may be his only legitimate threat.

By all accounts, he is ahead in the syllabus on that front. Compound that with the fact that he was already ahead of other candidates for the first of two depth vacancies on the right side of the strike force.

A full season of regular action with the team could help Fraser evolve into a key part of Boston’s postseason need.

If the final impression the Bruins left in 2013-14 is any indication, their strike force needs to prove little more between October and April. That notwithstanding, they need to prepare to sniff out and polish more chances over a seven-game arm-wrestling bout.

A combination of Fraser and veterans Soderberg and Daniel Paille could give Boston’s main depth troika the flair and finish it needs for that upgrade.

Fraser already has a feel for those games along with the size and shot that the situation calls for. All he needs is a chance to tap into that blended barrel for 82 nights leading up to a fuller playoff run.

Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics for this report were found via NHL.com.